Offensive Line Doesn’t Show Improvement, Allows Ten Sacks

Here we go again. Penn State’s offensive line, a unit that was almost guaranteed to show improvement by returning four starters with chips on their shoulders, sucked today. If Rutgers is an afterthought in most fan’s minds, Temple is a memory from a drunken night at a frat that you were reminded of on Monday. Still, the widely accepted third-best team in the state thoroughly dismantled Penn State. Credit has to be given where it’s due — after a soft first quarter, the Owls came back in the following 75 percent of the game and took Penn State to school, starting by absolutely tearing up the offensive line.

Of course, the offensive line obviously didn’t single-handedly lose — the offensive playcalling was garbage, Hackenberg couldn’t hit a receiver when he had time, the linebacker position was hit with the injury bug early, blah blah blah. The most frustrating part of the game? The offensive line and coaching staff built too much hype in the offseason to not deliver.

We tweeted these not because we wanted to, but because we had no choice.

And Hackenberg is sacked for a fifth time, bringing up a 4th and 20 for the Lions, and another punt.

Seriously. The former AAC record of eight sacks was destroyed by Temple. There were ten sacks, ten, on Penn State’s 52 offensive plays. One sack every 5.2 plays, or almost one every set of four downs. We all know how bad the offensive line was last year, and in this game it was worse.

Center Angelo Mangiro was kind enough to address the media after the game (sincerely — it was very nice to put himself out like that) and addressed what happened out there.

“Gotta give them credit, they played well, we didn’t,” he said. “Temple played really well, had good schemes, and we gotta play better. Obviously, it’s not how you want to open the season, but the game’s over now and we’re on to Buffalo.”

A confident, veteran unit was motivated during and after the Pinstripe Bowl win, and had an entire offseason to search for answers. Unfortunately, it came up with none.

“We have a good team,” Mangiro said. “We’ll bounce back.”

We hope so. The bounce-back was supposed to happen in the spring, or in training camp at the very least. Whatever the cure is for the offensive line’s ailments, let’s hope it’s found soon.

Penn State’s Interfraternity Council wants to make a statement State Patty’s Day, claiming that none of its chapters registered for a social during Happy Valley’s unofficial drinking holiday this weekend. “We commend the maturity and leadership that they displayed with their collective decision,” IFC released on the absence of socials State Patty’s Day. “We fully […]